Slate's Field Guide to the Candidates 2004
William Saletan and the staff of Slate.com
Plume
PB, 124 pg. US$8.99/C$13.50
ISBN: 0-4522-8499-6
Getting ready for 2004
By Steven Martinovich
web posted December 15, 2003
It seems like it was just yesterday that Americans defined by
states colored either red or blue were engaged in the debate
whether George W. Bush was selected or elected. In less than
12 months Americans will either confirm Bush as president or
replace him, which either way ends that tiresome debate. Of
course, casting that ballot next year in an informed manner
depends on having the right information and not surprisingly the
first of a tide of books all promising the right answers to the
questions of Americans will be asking has arrived.
Slate's Field Guide to the Candidates 2004 is one of those
resources that has leaped into the breach. Billing itself as "the
resource for every American who hopes to be truly informed"
about the candidates, Slate's effort touches upon each of
Democratic hopefuls and President Bush. Key positions, flip-
flops, buzzwords and personal history are explored in concise
sketches that flesh out the nine (Ten actually -- Bob Graham is
included as he exited the race after the book went to print)
hoping to win in November.
The book's strength -- its accessibility -- is also its primary
weakness. At a slim 124 pages, each candidate receives a brief
treatment though arguably in an entertaining and reasonably fair
manner. Each profile opens with basic information about the
candidate (full name, age, religious affiliation, military experience,
etc.), then continues on with the basics of their agenda and
worldview, the buzzwords they typically employ and what they
mean, their best and worst moments, policy flip-flops and
embarrassing gaffes. Body language is also explored in an
interesting manner before each section closes with an essay on
the candidate.
It's all done with humor and education in mind but one shouldn't
expect any grand examinations from the book. Major policy
positions receive at best a single paragraph, which only serve to
describe what the candidate believes and fail to offer any
substantive analysis outside of occasional quips. Policy flip-flops
and verbal gaffes are handled somewhat better with explanations
placing them in context. The essays, which seem to be recycled
from Slate's web site, offer little in the way of new information
and also fail to deliver substantive statements about the
candidates.
That said, Slate's Field Guide to the Candidates 2004 doesn't
pretend to be encyclopedic and it does offer interesting tidbits
about the candidates, such as what prominent Democrat
received a medical deferment from serving in Vietnam and then
went mogul skiing. As the book's back cover promises, you'll
find out that four of the candidates are divorced and one of them
threw someone else's medals at a protest against the Vietnam
War. You might also be surprised how many of them went to
law school, which may confirm your worst thoughts about who
the political process tends to attract.
Slate's Field Guide to the Candidates 2004 isn't a replacement
for carefully weighing the platforms of the various candidates, nor
should you turn off your TV and rely on the book as it suggests.
As a quick guide, however, it does a decent job of introducing
the candidates to people who haven't been obsessing about the
2004 election since the day after Bush's inauguration. Doubtless
in coming months more substantive analysis of each candidate
will appear but until then Slate's Field Guide to the Candidates
2004 will at least allow the reader to become more familiar with
the people they will be increasingly seeing on their evening
newscasts.
Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario,
Canada.
Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com